The 2006–07 season was Stoke City's 100th in the Football League, and the 40th in the second tier.
With the return of Peter Coates and Tony Pulis the objective was to now gain a return to the top flight of English football. Pulis was not a popular choice of manager amongst Stoke supporters and that feeling failed to be improved after a poor start to the season. But Coates provided Pulis with funds to spend on Danny Higginbotham, Ricardo Fuller and several high-profile loan arrivals including Lee Hendrie, Liam Lawrence, Rory Delap, Salif Diao, Andy Griffin and Patrik Berger. Stoke marked a turn around in the direction of the club with a 4–0 win away at Leeds United.
From then on Stoke produced a number of impressive performances as the side began to climb up the table. Stoke went into the final month of the season looking to claim a play-off spot but despite beating the likes of Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion frustrating draws against Cardiff City and Hull City meant that Stoke needed to win their final match away at Queens Park Rangers to have a chance of finishing 6th. It was not to be as a 1–1 was the result and City missed out on the play-offs by two points but it was a very positive season for the club.
Season review
League With Peter Coates and Tony Pulis back at the Britannia Stadium the main objective was to challenge for a place in the Premier League. The first act Pulis was since returning as manager was to bring in French forward Vincent Péricard from the club he just left Plymouth Argyle. Despite Pulis expecting big things from him, Péricard failed to impress and is considered one of the worst players to play for the club by supporters. A more successful signing was that of Southampton defender Danny Higginbotham for £225,000. Stoke lost their first match of the season away at newly promoted Southend United but won their first home match 2–0 against a Derby County side tipped to be promoted. But after a woefully boring draw at home to Plymouth, Pulis was booed by the Stoke supporters. On transfer deadline Stoke completed the signing of Jamaican striker Ricardo Fuller for a fee of £500,000 and he would go on to have an eventful six-year career with the club. Pulis again took stick from supporters after seeing their side throw away a two-goal lead at Barnsley. However, despite the poor start to the season Coates remained in full support of Pulis.
To address the problem Stoke signed Aston Villa winger Lee Hendrie, Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao and Sunderland midfielder Rory Delap whilst Andy Griffin extended his loan deal. And in their first match away at crisis club Leeds United Stoke produced a fine display winning 4–0 which signalled a change in the direction of the club. Stoke won their next match against top of the table Sunderland but suffered a blow as Rory Delap broke his leg in two places. Stoke then beat Norwich City 5–0 and signed Sunderland winger Liam Lawrence. This combined with a five match winning run pushed Stoke up the table and after a 1–0 win against Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Steve Simonsen made history by keeping seven successive clean sheets. But Stoke were brought back down to Earth with a bump, losing 3–0 away at Colchester United.
In the January transfer window, Stoke signed Lee Martin, Dominic Matteo, Gabriel Zakuani and Jonathan Fortune whilst captain Michael Duberry left for Reading leaving Higginbotham to take over as club captain. Stoke then went through a tough run of form winning just two from ten until the end of March before beating Leicester City to get their promotion push back on track. Stoke then beat West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace before frustrating draws against Cardiff City and Hull City prevented Stoke closing the gap on 6th place Southampton. Stoke won their penultimate match of the season 3–1 against Colchester United to set up a decisive encounter away at Queens Park Rangers. However Stoke produced a disappointing performance and could only draw 1–1 meaning that they missed out on a play-off place by two points. Despite failing to reach the play-offs the feeling was greatly improved around the club for quite a while and there were high hopes Stoke could go one better in 2007–08 and finally gain promotion back to the top tier.
League Cup Stoke kept up their poor showing in the first round of the League Cup this time in a truly woeful defeat against League Two Darlington. Stoke, at home, took the lead through Vincent Péricard after half an hour before Darlington were reduced to ten men. With a man advantage against poor opposition the expectation was to see out a routine win but Darlington scored twice without replay leaving Stoke and manager Pulis embarrassed.
FA Cup Two late goals saw Stoke see off League One Millwall in the third round to set up an away match against Fulham but Stoke were easily beaten 3–0.
Final league table
Results Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Pre-season friendlies MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers19 July 2006Newcastle TownA2–0Sidibé, Nathan Blake212 July 2006Chester CityA2–0Sigurðsson, Kopteff316 July 2006FC GratkornA1–2Brammer418 July 2006ManisasporA1–1Hoefkens (pen)525 July 2006PSV EindhovenH0–04,175628 July 2006Grimsby TownA1–0867Russell 65'
Football League Championship
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 5 August 2006 Southend UnitedA0–18,971Report2 8 August 2006 Derby CountyH2–020,013Péricard 18', Russell 58'Report3 12 August 2006 Birmingham CityH0–012,347Report4 19 August 2006 Luton TownA2–27,727Sweeney 10', Chadwick 70'Report5 26 August 2006 Plymouth ArgyleH1–111,626Sidibé 39'Report6 9 September 2006 BarnsleyA2–210,464Hill 3', Chadwick 23'Report7 12 September 2006 Sheffield WednesdayA1–119,966Paterson 34'Report8 16 September 2006 BurnleyH0–112,247Report9 23 September 2006 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–219,489Report10 30 September 2006 Preston North EndH1–114,342Fuller 41'Report11 14 October 2006 Leeds UnitedA4–018,173Hendrie 7', Griffin 58', Higginbotham 62', Fuller 88'Report12 17 October 2006 SunderlandH2–114,482Hendrie 50', Péricard 54'Report13 21 October 2006 SouthamptonA0–120,531Report14 28 October 2006 Norwich CityH5–013,444Hendrie 22', Fuller 38', Higginbotham 74' (pen), Chadwick 79', Russell 90+2'Report15 31 October 2006 Leicester CityA1–221,107Fuller 42'Report16 6 November 2006 Coventry CityH1–019,055Griffin 60'Report17 11 November 2006 Crystal PalaceA1–018,868Russell 38'Report18 18 November 2006 Hull CityA2–016,940Higginbotham 2', Russell 80'Report19 25 November 2006 West Bromwich AlbionH1–018,282Higginbotham 40' (pen)Report20 28 November 2006 Cardiff CityH3–015,309Fuller 60', Lawrence 63', Sidibé 65'Report21 2 December 2006 Coventry CityA0–019,073Report22 9 December 2006 Queens Park RangersH1–016,487Higginbotham 17' (pen)Report23 16 December 2006 Colchester UnitedA0–35,345Report24 23 December 2006 Ipswich TownA1–020,369Lawrence 71'Report25 26 December 2006 Sheffield WednesdayH1–223,003Sidibé 60'Report26 30 December 2006 Leeds UnitedH3–118,128Sidibé 12', Ehiogu 54' (o.g.), Fuller 77'Report27 13 January 2007 Wolverhampton WanderersH1–115,882Hill 85'Report28 20 January 2007 Preston North EndA2–315,151Lawrence 2', Sidibé 7'Report29 23 January 2007 BurnleyA1–012,109Sidibé 24'Report30 30 January 2007 Ipswich TownH0–011,182Report31 3 February 2007 Southend UnitedH1–123,017Fuller 31'Report32 11 February 2007 Birmingham CityA0–115,854Report33 17 February 2007 Luton TownH0–012,375Report34 21 February 2007 Derby CountyA2–024,897Higginbotham 15' (pen), Matteo 26'Report35 26 February 2007 BarnsleyH0–113,114Report36 3 March 2007 Plymouth ArgyleA1–112,539Russell 55'Report37 10 March 2007 SouthamptonH2–113,404Fortune 34', Martin 72'Report38 13 March 2007 SunderlandA2–231,358Russell 22', Hoefkens 45+3'Report39 24 March 2007 Norwich CityA0–124,293Report40 31 March 2007 Leicester CityH4–213,303Parkin 18', Fuller 29' (pen), Sidibé 79', Lawrence 90+3'Report41 7 April 2007 West Bromwich AlbionA3–120,386Fuller 14', Greening 21' (o.g.), Parkin 22'Report42 9 April 2007 Crystal PalaceH2–113,616Parkin 20', Fuller 27'Report43 14 April 2007 Cardiff CityA1–111,664Hoefkens 30'Report44 21 April 2007 Hull CityH1–117,109Lawrence 45+4'Report45 28 April 2007 Colchester UnitedH3–120,108Russell 53', Sidibé 57', Higginbotham 62'Report46 6 May 2007 Queens Park RangersA1–116,741Sidibé 84'Report
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR3 5 January 2007 MillwallH2–08,024Elliott 84' (o.g.), Fuller 87'ReportR4 27 January 2007 FulhamA0–311,059Report
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR122 August 2006 DarlingtonH1–23,573Péricard 29'Report
Squad statistics
No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1GK Steve Simonsen4602010490302DF Carl Hoefkens42(3)2200044(3)2303DF Marlon Broomes00000000004MF John Eustace7(8)0100(1)08(9)0105DF Michael Duberry 2902010320705DF Jonathan Fortune 1410000141206DF Clint Hill15(3)2101017(3)1517FW Sambégou Bangoura 1(3)000001(3)0108MF Dave Brammer 11(11)00(1)00011(12)0408MF Jon Parkin 5(1)300005(1)3109FW Mamady Sidibé42(1)9201045(1)92010FW Hannes Sigurðsson0(2)0000(1)00(3)00010FW Ricardo Fuller25(5)101(1)10026(6)119211MF Kevin Harper0(3)0000(1)00(4)00012MF Peter Sweeney10(3)1101012(3)10014DF Danny Higginbotham44720004673015FW Vincent Péricard17(12)2101119(12)31016MF Lee Hendrie26(2)3000026(2)37017MF Darel Russell40(3)7201043(3)77018MF Salif Diao2701(1)00028(1)010019MF Luke Chadwick 13(2)3000013(2)31019DF Dominic Matteo9110001011020DF Andy Griffin32(1)2100033(1)210121MF Lee Martin 4(9)110005(9)12022DF Lewis Buxton100000100023MF Liam Lawrence27510002853024MF Rory Delap200000200025GK Russell Hoult000000000026MF Anthony Pulis0(1)000101(1)00027MF Patrik Berger 1(6)000001(6)00027DF Gabriel Zakuani 900000901028DF Andy Wilkinson2(2)00(1)0002(3)01029MF Jeff Whitley 0(3)000101(3)01030FW Martin Paterson0(9)1000(1)00(10)10031DF Carl Dickinson5(8)000106(8)01032MF Ádám Vass000000000033GK Robert Duggan000000000034FW Adam Rooney0(10)00(2)0000(12)00035MF Robert Garrett000000000036MF Matthew Hazley000000000037FW Keith Thomas0000000000––Own goals–2–1–0–3––
References